A Noise in the Attic
by michael1812
Summary: Sally Preston and her little brother investigate a strange noise in the attic, unknowingly unleashing a dangerous monster. Who will save them from this menace? The Next Doctor Jackson Lake as played by David Morrisey. Written before Xmas 2008. AU Doctor


Where the clouds of dusk might find themselves gathered in a perfect circle, there one would find the man described in legend.

Of course the prophecy did not describe a purple sunset, nor did it include the fact that a strange crater had been spotted on the dark side of the moon, but let's forget that for one moment shall we?

Our story begins on a dark and stormy night, where owls fly from shadow to shadow and flies zoom around street lights in a frenzy, but as the wind increased in strength, so did the strange noises in the attic of an insignificant little house South of London.

Pressing the cushion deeper upon his head did nothing to further the little boy's sleep, nor could his teddy bear aid him in the struggle for rest.

With a groan he finally kicked off his sheets and climbed out of bed, never once losing the paw of Teddy which he tightly gripped with his tiny hand.

He dragged it across the floor with him to his big sister's room, who like all grown-ups now no longer feared the strange noises at night.

The little light in the hallway was the only thing which shed light in all the bedrooms as the tiny boy could not reach for the switch.

He tiptoed across the room to his sister's bed, where he leaned across her shoulder to whisper softly into her ear:

"There is a monster in the attic."

The older sister was not all that excited to heed her brother's words, nor did she jump at the opportunity to rush to the tiny boy's aid, when all that there was to battle were the supposed figments of an overactive imagination, tainted by the movies on tv.

"Go back to sleep, Matt," the older sister cried, but the boy would not yield.

"Sally!"

Still half asleep, she could not remember how long it took before he finally convinced her to get out from under her warm covers and accompany the boy into the expanse between rooms.

It all seemed like a blur to Sally, which was the tiny boy's older sister for those who haven't been paying attention, until she too finally heard the strange noises which came from the attic.

It was as if a stork was trapped within the closet and banged its wings against the wooden door as it desperately tried to force its way out in a fit of paranoia or claustrophobia.

The reason why I'm listing these two words in the same sentence is to make you more aware of phobias or fear, which is never to be underestimated, something Sally did at this point.

She trusted logic over instinct, something which should be applauded in almost any circumstance.

Almost.

The steps creaked under her weight every time she placed one bare foot above the other as she slowly climbed the stairs.

It was a staircase which went round for half a circle before it reached the next level, which was the abandoned attic where once used to be their dad's old study, until it was used to store their old stuff.

Dad stopped using the attic when finally the place was buried in boxes, and to this day the room was still half invisible beneath the cardboard.

Sally at this point figured out in her mind that it was probably the boiler which was making all this heat, or the window which they had forgotten to close properly.

She rubbed her eyes and reached the next step without waiting for the lights to come on, which she knew always took some time to start working, but Sally was impatient.

Her bed was calling out to her, and she was having such a lovely dream.

Strangely enough she didn't feel afraid whatsoever when the lights started flickering just before they turned on, lighting up the attic in a darkly mood.

Their eyes could not pierce into the shadows, nor could they see what was causing the noise.

Her irrational bravery ended the moment her little brother took her hand, and she remembered why she should be afraid of the dark.

No longer sleeping she remembered all her nightmares and fears, all the horror movies she's laughed at with her friend Caitlin and all the strange disappearances which have been going on in this part of London for the past few months.

She had never remembered all victims before, but all of a sudden she could see all their faces in front of them as she approached the place where the noise emerged from.

"Matt, go downstairs!" Sally said.

"No!" the little boy cried. "I want to be with you!"

Sally grunted with frustration, knowing how hard it was to argue with kids, and especially her own brother.

"Just stay here, okay?" she said to him and the boy nodded.

Sally nodded only once as she let go of his hand, and glancing at Teddy the small girl inside of her suddenly felt the urge to cry out to her father.

"It's coming from the closet!" Matt said and Sally quickly shushed him.

The shadows were dancing up and down the front of the closet's wooden doors, as if something inside was trying to get out, but was unable to.

Sally could swear she could hear buzzing going on inside.

"Hello?" she asked, not knowing why.

The rusty, old key of this closet was lying on the floor in front of it, and Sally picked it up and hesitantly placed it in it's lock, before quickly turning it around.

It could've been a monster inside that closet which would've swallowed her whole with one single bite, or a burglar who was stupid enough to get locked in the closet he was hiding in.

Fair to say, this was not a case as described in the latter part of the previous sentence, but definitely one of the first half of that sentence, and definitely an entity of unearthly origin.

As Sally opened up the closet something was spat out into the light, something so fast they saw nothing but glimpses of a dark blob of matter which zoomed across the ceiling in circles.

"Sally!" Matt cried, but Sally could do nothing to comfort him, for she too was petrified by the entity's hypnotic dance.

It flew towards the small window, but could do nothing but bounce against its glass as it was firmly locked shut, and the creature had no other way to escape than the staircase, which was guarded by a four-and-a-half years old boy with his teddy-bear.

Just when the small boy asked the question: "What is it?" the dark shapeless entity flew towards him and clung itself to his chest.

Sally cried out his brother's name as the creature took the boy with him as he zoomed across the staircase, down and down, through the dark corridor of the first floor, past their parents' bedroom, and down the second stairwell towards the ground floor.

Matt cried out to his older sister, who ran after him and stubbed her toe against a badly placed chair, before running down the staircase wildly.

She never once thought of alerting her parents, because of the state of panic she was in, as she desperately tried to save her little brother from the malevolent entity she herself had released from her attic.

She wondered for a second how that got in that closet in the first place.

Birdlike claws clutched Matt's feeble pyjamas in a vicelike grip as his tiny feet were dragged across the floor towards the door which lead outside.

"Open it!" a dark, gritty voice cried as Matt was bluntly dropped on to the cold floor.

The small boy was terrified and desperately clung to his teddy bear as his face slowly turned red in terror.

"OPEN IT!"

Yellow eyes started sparkling within the shapeless mass as it slowly grew in size.

It seemed like smoke and shadow as it hovered in starlight, looking down on the small, terrified boy.

"I cannot reach the handle," Matt said to the monster with a soft, articulated voice, and the beast cried its shrieking cry. "And it's locked."

"MATT!"

The creature zoomed from place to place as it tried to find a way out, hearing Matt's big sister approach, but he could find nothing but shoes, coats and a toilet.

Then it noticed a small crack within the glass of the door to the living room, and it quickly zoomed towards it through the air.

Sally was just in time to see the shapeless, dark entity wring itself through the small crack as it turned to smoke.

She rushed to grab her little brother and she quickly lifted him up in the air to place him in her arms, and he placed his around her neck.

She was foolish to enter the living room in search for the dastardly creature, but then again, most heroes are.

The light switch was to her right, attached to the wall, but she knew the creature was still around.

She could hear it buzzing in the darkness and shadows, and Sally realized it was evading the light of the lamppost which shined through the curtains inside the house.

"Sally, I'm scared!" Matt cried as he buried his head into her shoulder.

"Don't worry," Sally said. "I'm scared too."

It was there somewhere, with yellow eyes like a cat, gleaming at them from the darkness.

But what she did not know was, that the creature was the darkness.

It pulled her little brother out of her hands and pushed her against the wall.

She fell into the pale light, but soon felt something tugging her leg; a creepy hand made out of darkness and smoke which was pulling her into the shadows.

"Sally!" Matt cried.

Sally kicked the darkness but hit nothing and the hand was pulling her in.

She desperately buried her nails into the texture of a small mat, which was just within her reach, and then she was able to cling to the corner of the wall with feeble fingers.

It was all she could do to get away from the darkness, whose touch was reeling her in.

She could feel its touch like the sting of a thousand needles, like teeth of an enormous mouth which was ready to devour her whole.

Suddenly a man burst into the room, and Sally thought it was her father, but it wasn't.

His eyes widened at seeing the shapeless monster in the room, and when the monster looked back at him with his piercing yellow eyes, Sally could feel his grip on her foot loosening.

Quickly the man turned on the lights, revealing the figure of a snake, made out of smoke, curled around the dinner table, clutching Sally and her little brother in a deadly grip.

Sally then felt the shiver of a cold wind touch her skin and she realized this stranger must've left the door wide open when he came in their house from outside.

Sally barely had time to look at the stranger's strange costume, which consisted of a light brown coat with a black collar, dark brown pants, a red vest, with a golden watch tucked inside his pocket and a golden tie above his white shirt, whose collar was flipped up into his neck.

He had a tall forehead, short sideburns and black hair.

He seemed agitated, but excited, as he aimed a metal tool at the shapeless snake.

"Be gone!" the man cried out.

The tool buzzed as its top sparked a blue light.

The snake hissed as the smoke turned to ice.

It let go of Sally and her brother and slithered across the floor without touching it, across Sally's feet and towards the window.

There his tail turned to snowflakes whilst it was still within range of the strange man's strange tool.

It turned into smoke again as it reached the windows; it seeped through the incredibly narrow openings and chinks through which cold air was still getting into the house.

"Coward!" the stranger exclaimed.

The entity escaped into their garden.

"Shape-shifters!" the man spoke loudly as he saw Sally's confused eyes. "Tricky to handle! Impossible to find!"

"Who are you?" Sally asked flabbergasted.

"I am the man who just saved your life!" he exclaimed proudly. "But we must hurry! It's getting away!"

Again, Sally reached for her little brother, determined never to lose him ever again, as the stranger ran towards the large door and unlocked it by using his strange tool.

"We need to find it before it changes shape!" the man spoke to Sally as he slid the glass door open and stepped into the garden.

Sally insisted that no danger would come to her younger brother, so she urged him to go back to bed.

"Go!" Sally said to him. "Wake up mum and dad! And close the doors!"

Sally watched Matt to make sure he'd do as he was told, before she rushed into the garden to find that mysterious man and the unbelievable monster he had saved them from.

The second she stepped into the garden and felt the cold tiles and weeds beneath her feet, the man turned his head and said to her:

"It must've used your attic to hide!" he said as he aimed his sonic screwdriver at the bushes. "It knew I was looking for it! Very clever, but not clever enough!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sally said. "Shape-shifters? Monsters? They don't exist!"

"It's all beyond your grasp, I know!" the stranger said.

"Still! It's nothing to wrap your tiny, little head around! You will sleep soon and you will not remember this ever happened. You'll all think it was just another bad dream!"

"But this was real!"

"You are contradicting yourself, my dear!" the man exclaimed as he walked deeper into the bushy garden.

"This is my house!" Sally cried.

"This is my screwdriver!" the man replied.

"Who are you?" Sally asked.

"I am no ordinary fellow!" the man exclaimed. "I am THE DOCTOR!"

He turned around to face Sally and he pointed his finger at her.

"Find the man who can tackle my wit and you'll find the end of the universe!"

The Doctor turned around and manoeuvred his feet through the colourful garden gnomes which surrounded the small pond.

"I challenge you to take a stab in the dark!" he said to Sally. "Miss and you're dead!"

Suddenly the shape-shifter exploded out of the pond at a tremendous speed and water splashed across the garden, startling both Sally and the Doctor as the creature changed from a bird into a spider in mid-air, before landing upon the brick wall, which separated their garden with the neighbour's.

"Don't let it get away!" the Doctor cried.

Sally picked up a shovel and started smashing the wall, and she missed the spider by one second.

"Excellent!" the Doctor cried out as he ran towards the creature, which now quickly grew another pair of wings and flew into the sky, straight up into the air.

"It's escaped!" Sally said.

"It's daft!" the Doctor cried. "It thinks it can get to outer space by flight, forgetting the fact that he'd freeze before it ever gets there!"

They both looked up and watched how the monstrous bird flew towards the stars.

"Shape-shifters can't stand the cold, you see! It messes up their metabolism and stops them changing!"

"That's why it turned to snow when you used your screwdriver against it!" Sally said.

"Exactly!" the Doctor said. "You indeed are a bright, young girl, aren't you?"

Sally glanced again at the sky above her.

"So what now?" Sally said. "Do we wait for it to come down again?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," the Doctor said.

Then Sally realized something, which somehow changed her view of this man who stood beside her significantly.

She had assumed that he was some kind of hunter, or specialist, chasing after this deadly alien, because it was a threat to humanity, but she was wrong.

"But if this thing only wants to go up, towards the stars, does it mean it wants to go home?"

"It is an alien, yes," the Doctor said.

"No," Sally spoke. "That's not what I meant. All it ever wanted, from the moment we let it out of that closet, was to go home. It didn't mean to hurt us, it just thought we were a threat."

"Like any animal, it attacked you out of instinct, not malice," the Doctor spoke. "Indeed you are right. It flies towards the stars because it wants to go home, but it can't. His ship was destroyed when he and his family crash-landed on planet Earth."

"And you've been trying to kill it?" Sally asked.

"I was trying to help it," the Doctor said, and he turned around, before he silently walked back into the house.

Sally felt bad for saying those bad things about him, but then she saw him smile gently at her when she followed him into the dark house past midnight hours.

She noticed the time when she glanced at the clock in the living room.

"Thank you for your assistance," the Doctor said. "What was your name?"

"Sally," Sally said. "Sally Preston."

"Sally Preston," the Doctor said. "I could not have done this without your help."

"But I didn't do anything," Sally said honest.

He merely smiled.

"I'll catch the shape-shifter before it falls," the Doctor said.

"What?" Sally asked, who had already forgotten about the entire situation.

The Doctor simply pointed up, before he dimmed the lights with his other hand and faded away into the darkness.

"Thank you," Sally said.

Again, he said nothing, and he only smiled mysteriously with a twinkle in his eyes.

He walked out the door this way, leaving Sally alone in her parents' house.

Astonished, she stood there for a few minutes, unable to believe this man had just appeared, saved her life, put her world upside down and left without saying a word.

She locked the door again and went upstairs, with a disappointed pace.

There she found her little brother, who was crying because mum and dad had told him to go back to bed, thinking he simply had a nightmare.

She comforted him, and told him everything was all right.

The monsters were gone, all because of the Doctor.

"The Doctor?" he asked.

That same man was strutting down the street, checking his golden watch as he looked up at the moon.

He calculated the creature's descent in his mind.

He tucked the golden watch back where it belonged, before he looked at the house he had just left, thinking about the girl he had just saved.

"Good night, Sally Preston!" he said proudly, as he looked up at her bedroom window. "And sweet dreams!"

They would never see him again, this magnificent man, much to Sally's disappointment, although she did often wonder if he was still out there somewhere, chasing monsters and wandering through shadows, bursting through doors leading to all the most wonderful places.

Alas, her imagination finally took hold of her memories, distorting them, however making her dreams match reality almost perfectly.

Almost.


End file.
